Work

Faces of the tropics: facial recognition, identity and refusal in Mexico

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This paper investigates ‘AI refusal’ by analysing how colonial and racialised logics inform the surveillance and representation of Mexicans through facial recognition technologies. Blending conventional academic analysis with a fictional vignette and a visual triptych, the paper offers a creative-critical approach to resistance. The vignette evokes the emotional and embodied impacts of surveillance, while the triptych employs visual metaphors to challenge reductive representations and affirm selfhood across the lifespan. Together, these methods provide cultural geographers with tools to examine the affective, symbolic and material dimensions of surveillance, resistance and collective memory.

Source: Cultural Geographies

DOI: 10.1177/14744740251347936

Authors: Helena Machado, Susana de Noronha

Institutions: Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, University of Minho

Language: English

Topic: Ethics and Social Impacts of AI

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650